Signaling device



May 7, 1929.

N. J. COMERFORD SIGNALING DEVICE Filed May 31, 1927 Patented May 7, 1929.

, UNITED, STATES 1,711,775 PATENT OFFICE.

NICHOLAS J'. COMERFORD, OF JOLIET, iLLINOIS.

SIGNALING nnvxon.

Application filed;May 31,

Another object of the invention is to provide means in conjunction with signaling devices to automatically jar, the passengers of the vehicle prior, subsequent, or simultaneously with the operating of the signaling device. i 1

Another object of the invention is to construct a device of this nature that is inexpensive of manufacture, simple of operation, that requires little or no attention during the life of the device, and is not rendered inoperative by snow or ice or any weather condition.

In general the device is designed to be installed in a highway roadbed at the ap proach to a railway crossing to be operated by the wheels of a passing vehicle to give an audible alarm and ar the vehicle to give additional warning of the railway crossing that is being approached, and so constructed as not to be affected by weather conditions, so made as to be cheap of manufacture and fool-proof in operation.

It is apparent that numerous changes in the details of construction and in'the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit .or the scope of the invention as herein described and claimed, or sacrificing any of its advantages. 7 1

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device shown installed in a vehicle roadbed.

Figure 2 is a fragmental vertical sectional enlarged view showing some of the operating parts of the device.

Figure 3 is a transverse section shown at enlarged scale and taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4: is a fragmental end view of a modified form of the invention.

Figure 5 is a fragmental sectional view taken on line 55 of the modified form shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a fragmental vertical sectional view of the modified form of the invention. showing the means provided; for jarring the 1927; Serial No. 195,304.

passengers in a vehicle while passing thereover.

The roadbed'll may be of gravel or of the ordinary concrete construction commonly used for highways.

- A bearing 12 may be embedded in the center of the-roadbed 11, or adjacent thereto for pivotally carrying a movable element for operating the signal.

Thisbearing, as illustrated in Fig. 3, is

shown as a casting having ,a centrally depressed portion 13, formed with side and bottom walls. In the oppositely disposed side walls 1%, aligned bores are provided to receive a pivot shaft 15, one of said bores being extended through the casting as at 16 to provide for the assembling of the movable element, bearing and shaft.

As illustrated here, a tubular member 17 is pivotally mounted on said shaft or pin and extends across theroad to make it impossible for a vehicle to pass over this part of the highway without engaging said pivotally mounted member.

A hollow standard 18 is provided with an opening 19 at its upper end, and a plurality of substantially diametrically opposed openings 21 and 22 at its other .or lower end, which are arranged to be disposed above the roadbedwhen the standard is secured in place to receive one. end of the movable member 17 which extends through the opening 21 intothe interior of the standard 18.

A cap 23 is threadingly secured tothe nonpivoted end of the movable element 17, and has apertured ears 24 formed integral therewith to provide means for receiving a pin 25. Extending from the end of this cap 28 is a striking element 26 arranged to engage a sounding element or bell 31to give an audible alarm as said movable element 17 is actuated. a

A collar 27 is secured on the movable element 1'? and disposed within the standard 18, adjacent the cap 23 and provided with an eye, to which is secured a tension spring or yielding element 28, which also is located inside of and secured to the standard 18 by means of a pin 29 for the purpose of forcing the movable element upwardly until'arrested by the engagement of an extension of the striker 26 with the upper edgeof the'standard opening 22.

The bell or gong 31 is pivotally secured to a bracket 32 secured to and extending outill) wardly from the standard 18 above the aperture 22, so as to dispose the bell in the path of the striker 26 to give, upon engagement therewith, an audible alarm as the movable element 17 is forced downwardly by the,

Between this lever arm and the pin 25,

an adjustable tension member 36 extends to connect the two, so that upon actuation of the moving element 17 the gongs 31 and 34 will be sounded, one in advance of the other, or simultaneously depending upon their relative adjusted posit-ions.

By referring to Fig. 6, a modified form of the invention, it will be seen that pipes or protruding elements 37 are secured adjacent the movable element, so that the vehicle in passing over them will be jarred. In this way the simultaneous automatic audible alarm and the jarring of the vehicle cannot fail to warn the passengers in the vehicle of the approach to a railroad track.

The modification shown in Figures 4 and 5 is in all respects similar to the preferred form, except that instead of having the movable element 18 depressible, it is arranged to rotate to operate the signals in exactly the same way as the preferred form, and comprises a leaf 39 secured to a fixed lever arm 41 and being suitably journaled in bearing boxes 42.

As the vehicle engages the leaf in passing over it, it causes rotation thereof about the axes of the bearing, thus transn'iitting a rotation to the lever arm 41, which actuates the means that sounds the bell against the tension of the spring 28 which then returns the leaf 39 to normal vertical position.

1. An article of the class described adapted to be installed in a vehicle roadat the approach to a railroad track, comprising in combination a bearing adapted to be located adjacent the center of said read, an element pivotally mounted on said bearing and extending toward the edge of the road, a standard, a spring connecting said pivotally mounted element with said standard for normally holding one end of said pivotally mounted element up, a signal on said standard and means connecting said pivotally mounted element and said signal, arranged to operate said signal as the pivoted element is lowered.

2. An article of the class described adapted to be installed in a vehicle road at the approach to a railroad track, comprising a bearing adapted to be located adjacent the center of said road, an element pivotally mounted on said bearing and extending toward the edge of the road to be engaged by the wheel of a Vehiclepassing thereover, a standard having openings, a striking member secured to an d extending from said movable element through said opening in the standard, a bell secured to said standard in the path of said striking element, an element for normally holding said striking element out of engagement with the bell, and arranged to permit said striking element to engage said bell as said movable element is lowered.

3. A warning signal adapted-to be secured in a highway at the approach to a railroad track adapted to be operated by a vehicle in passing over it, comprising a bearing adapted to be secured in the roadbed of the highway, an element pivotally secured thereto and extending toward the edge of the highway, a standard adapted to be secured adjacent the free end of said element, a striking member carried on the end of the movable element extending through openings provided at the lower end of the standard, a signal hung in the path of said striking member, and a yielding element in said standard secured to said movable element nois.

NICHOLAS J. COMERFORD. 

